Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads his players off the field after their Twenty20 World Cup Super 8 match against South Africa in Colombo. (Reuters Photo)

COLOMBO: India would say that they were a bit unfortunate to exit from the World T20. They beat England and Pakistan, and then pipped South Africa by one run in a thriller, as L Balaji castled Morne Morkel, who has just smashed the first six of his T20I career.

India's chances were dented grievously by Pakistan's big win over the favoured Aussies which left the Men in Blue with the stiff ask of beating the Proteas by a minimum margin of 31 runs in their final Super Eights game on Tuesday in order to make the semis. They sneaked out a close win, but couldn't do enough to make the cut for the last four.

India made 152 for six, and needed to stop the Proteas at 121, but Faf du Plessis, who had a highest T20I score of 13 before this match, smashed 65 (38b, 6x4, 2x6) to spoil their plans.

However, questionable team composition for Tuesday's must-win game, along with a major captaincy gaffe by skipper MS Dhoni didn't help India's cause. In the end, the hammering at the hands of Shane Watson and David Warner, which won Australia their Super Eights game against India with 31 balls to spare, came back to haunt them. It just proved too costly.

Dhoni will have much answering to do about why he didn't play veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on a wicket on which Pakistan played four spinners against Australia with much success. The Proteas are as bad players of spin as anybody in the world, so why was Harbhajan, who took four for 12 against the English earlier in the tournament, not brought on in this game at the expense of a seamer, preferably Balaji?

Zaheer and Balaji bowled their heart out, picking up three wickets each, but India needed to win a bit more easily. Harbhajan could have helped them do that.

That wasn't enough. Even as South Africa, especially Du Plessis, seemed to be rather comfortable against the seamers after suffering the initial blows, Dhoni perhaps forgot that he had R Ashwin's services up his sleeve.

One of the best off spinners in world cricket was brought on after even part-timer Rohit Sharma had tried his arm around! Ashwin came on in the 10th over but it was too late by then.

Yuvraj Singh did his bit for India, scoring 21, and then taking two wickets, but he would trade his Man of the Match award with a spot in the last four for his team any day.

Earlier, Suresh Raina's run out off the final ball of the Indian innings summed up India's campaign in the World T20 this time. The stylish left-hander, who had kept India's challenge alive till then with a 34-ball 45, was found inches short of the crease while going for the second run. For both India, and Raina, it was a case of being so near, yet so far!

India fumbled initially, slipping to 36 for three, as the top-order batsmen panicked in search of quick runs, throwing their bats around at everything. It was always going to be difficult to go bang bang against the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel from ball one. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag fell trying to be too adventurous. Sadly, Virat Kohli, who normally steps up on these occasions, had an off day, gloving Jacques Kallis down the leg side.

Yuvraj then brought India back into the game, smashing two trademark sixes in a 15-ball cameo. There was a 44-run stand between Rohit Sharma and Raina off 36 balls that gave India a decent total. In the slog, Dhoni and Raina gave India the surge they needed.

It was tragic to see India crash out despite the batting line-up they posses, and despite eking out a thrilling win on Tuesday.

Somewhere, though, they had themselves to blame.

HOW INDIA LOST THE PLOT

After Pak beat Aus by 32 runs, India needed a big win over S Africa to make the semis. Pak used spinners for the first 17 overs against Aus, but on the same ground, India went in without Harbhajan.

Having scored 152, India needed to restrict the Safs to 121 or less. But Dhoni gave Irfan a third straight over which went for 14 runs. Part-timer Rohit's over too was taken for 13 runs as the momentum swung decisively.

By the time India's main spinner R Ashwin came on, S Africa were already 68/3. Balaji got his first over at 79/3. India finally won by 1 run, but were knocked out of the World T20.